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Chapter 33 - Accusations and Realizations (CitC)
The day of excursion from the Waffle Kingdom would be five days after Ludwig's briefing of the plan, so the following days were spent preparing and getting the battlers in tip-top shape for yet another battle. Fighting for a living meant that they were among the fittest of their kind, and by extension did not need to prepare overly for battle. Gonzales and Blizzerd both would not partake in the first round of battles, the liberation of the Clubba Kingdom, but would likely be fit for the battles to reclaim the narrow strips of land between the Clubba Kingdom and Koopa Kingdom, as well as between the Koopa Kingdom and the Sea. On the last day before they left, Tubba was in fact on his way to visit Gonzales and Blizzerd, to tell them his plan to liberate the Kingdom. If all went well, they wouldn't be needed for the battles. That was better. While Tubba would do anything to have Gonzales and Blizzerd by his side, war ''was much more serious than Glitz Pit battling. If either of them got injured badly or died in the war, he wouldn't forgive himself. Nodding to Darius, Shazam, Aaron and Xavier as he passed, he saw no other people as he turned a corner. As he turned yet another corner to Gonzales and Blizzerd's room, however, he found himself face to face with... himself? His mind instantly began racing. ''What? Am I hallucinating? Does my hair actually look like that? ''Before he could voice his doubts, the second Tubba chuckled, before vanishing in a puff of smoke, in his place leaving a purple Duplighost. "Parin!" Tubba exclaimed, realizing who it was. "Don't do that!" Behind the Duplighost, who by now had lapsed in hysterics, her boyfriend Lukki coming around another corner in the various crisscrossing hallways of the hotel, bobbing up and down excitedly in his cloud. "Tubba, hey man!" Lukki said excitedly, drawing level with Parin. "How've you been?" Tubba waved off the question: "Doesn't matter. What matters is ''where ''you've been?" The last two AWOL battlers filled Tubba with an explanation in how they cut across the northernmost tip of the Mushroom Mainland, through Ice Land and into Pipe Land, taking the nearest pipe to Decalburg, where they split with Darius. From Decalburg, they stayed there in an effort to pick up rumours and news about the rest of the battlers, eventually coming across the news of the Mushroom Ship hijacking. Then, they came to the Waffle Kingdom, went to the town of Plumpbelly Village in the Syrup Mountains, learning that the survivors were in Jazzafrazz Town. "So, then we came over to Jazzafrazz Town, learned you guys were in this Inn, and here we are! You're the first battler we've seen." Parin finished, punctuating her words by looking over her shoulder desperately. "So, is Darius here? Lukki owes him an apology. I guess he had a better idea than the rest of us." "Yeah, he's back there, with Xavier, Shazam and Aaron..." Tubba gestured down another one of the hallways, "take a left." Leaving the two new battlers to find their own way to Darius, he quickly sidestepped them and continued on his path to Gonzales and Blizzerd. ''Parin and Lukki have returned... should I have told them to get out while they still could've, before Ludwig bonded them to the Koopa Kingdom as he did the rest of us? Whatever. They wouldn't've left anyway. Briefly knocking on the door before entering, Tubba was met with the sight of both Gonzales and Blizzerd on separate beds, both drinking various potions left on their beside tables by Medikoopas. "Tubs!" Blizzerd greeted him as he entered, putting aside the potion, before making a face, "disgusting." "Hi Blizzerd," Tubba acknowledged the young Barribad, and then added as Gonzales put down his glass, "and hi, Gonzales." "Tubba, bonjour." said Gonzales, his voice low. "The Clubba I wanted to see." The skin on his forehead had finally grown back properly, pink and new, and new scales were beginning to bud, making Gonzales look like he had a weird patch of blue acne on his forehead. Eventually, the scales would grow to full size and darken, covering the skin from view, as the scales on Tubba's ankle has done. "Tubba, I have something important to say to you." "Well, hit me." Tubba halted between their beds, crossing his arms over his chest. The distinct lack of his club still made him feel defenceless, but now Gonzales could relate to him, having lost his own club aboard the Mushroom Ship. Only Clubbette still carried her club out of the three Clubbas, but Tubba was positive that even without a club, if it came to battle, he could defeat her with electricity. He had continued honing his electric levels, but beyond being able to create a ball around him for defence and fire it from his fingers, he had not improved in any regard, except that he felt less drained after using it. Ludwig warned him that teleportation - an incredibly difficult electric skill - was still many years of practice away. "I wasn't the last to recover aboard that ship, Tubba." Gonzales explained, keeping his voice low to a whisper. "When I came to first, you all were knocked out. I distinctly recall looking under my seat, where I've been told you found Blizzerd." Raising a dark blue hand, forestalling any questions, Gonzales continued, "I also remember not having a throbbing pain in my forehead when I first came to, contrary to what this," he jabbed a thumb in the air in the general direction of his wound, "suggests." Taking a moment to process the information as Gonzales paused for breath, Tubba questioned: "Well, then why were you knocked out with a wound pouring blood when I first came to?" Gonzales nodded. "Fresh blood. I've talked to Dibby; she said the ship had crashed for hours before we came to. As you probably know, blood soldifies after a few hours. If I had that immediately after the crash, there would be some crusted blood around the wound. Furthermore," he pressed, as Tubba once again tried to interrupt, "at the rate I was losing blood before you stemmed the flow partially, I would've been dead, not just unconscious by the time you got us out of the ship." "So, how'd you get the wound?" Tubba asked as Gonzales paused for breath again. "I'm getting to that. As I tried to get up, I recall a blistering pain in my forehead as something heavy contacted against it, ripping the scales off my head. And the next thing I remember is waking up on the train ride in extreme pain." "And only one person aboard that ship was carrying something heavy enough..." Tubba realized, understanding where Gonzales was going with his thoughts. "You seriously think she tried to kill you?" "Yes." Gonzales agreed, clearly understanding who Tubba was referring to. "Think about it, Tubba. Who, of all the battlers, would you like fighting alongside you in these battles, provided no one got killed?" The question didn't require much thought to be answered. "You two." "And now we're both unable to fight. Blizzerd actually has more information." Gonzales looked over at Blizzerd, who had been listening to the conversation between Tubba and Gonzales with rapt attention. "I came to underneath the seat before everyone except Gonzales." Blizzerd recalled, looking distinctly pleased to have information. "I heard moving around, and I wasn't sure who it was. Because of my rapidly unstable magic, I wasn't able to move, and if I tried, severe pain lanced up every part of my body. What I managed to see out of the corners of my large eyes were light blue scales shuffling around, before they settled back in Clubbette's seat. Seconds later, you got up, Tubba." Gonzales took over again. "That's definite proof Clubbette was up before anyone else. I think she wanted to kill both Blizzerd and I." "She also wanted to kill me," Tubba recalled, remembering their encounter awfully close to the edge of the scree. "If she could, why didn't she then? Why wait till we were out of the plane to get me, after taking out you two earlier?" "You confided in me about the encounter on the cliff, Tubba." Gonzales reminded him, as Tubba realized he had in fact trusted the dark blue Clubba with that information soon after arriving in Jazzafrazz Town. "I was positive that maybe my theory was wrong, and I was just hallucinating. And then I remembered something else you said. Clubbette was arrogant and proud when you first met her, but she's buried that to anyone else in the recent times. I think her arrogance wouldn't let her dispatch of you in the same way she would depose of Blizzerd and I. She would've liked to see you fall to your death, frankly, and would want you to be aware of it. Especially after her defeat at your hands earlier." "So she wants to kill all three of us, why?" "Ludwig."